The present invention relates to mold castings and, more preferably, to a movable system pouring casting molds on a car type mold conveyor.
In the foundry industry, iron ore, scrap or the like is melted into a molten state where it is poured into molds to form metal castings. Generally, an impression of the element to be cast is formed in a sand mold. The sand molds include pouring basins to enable passage of the molten metal into the cavity impression within the sand mold.
During the pouring or casting process, the sand molds are positioned onto a car type mold conveyor and the conveyor is activated moving the molds along it. The conveyor is indexed such that it stops for a desired amount of time before starting. As the molds move along the conveyor, at each indexing of the conveyor, an operator fills each mold individually from a large ladle containing as much as a ton of molten metal. The ladle is generally hung overhead on swivels and pivots to enable the operator to pour it. This process requires the operator to be skilled in moving and pouring the ladle.
The above presents the art with several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the pouring of the mold is operator-dependent. The consistency of the molds varies due to the pouring of the operator. The operator is subjected to very hot conditions during continuous pouring of the molds. There are known automatic and semi-automatic stopper pouring systems that pour stationary molds. These systems require the mold line to be moved or indexed forward one mold at a time to enable the systems to pour the molds. The stopping and starting of the indexing conveyor with a multiplicity of molds thereon, due to the exceptionally large load carried by the conveyor, causes exceptional wear on the conveyor in a very short period of time. Accordingly, it is desirous to provide an apparatus which overcomes these disadvantages and pour molds on a continuously moving mold line.